Artemis Books & Goods, which had its soft opening earlier this year in the Warehouse MRKT building at 144 Hall St. in Traverse City, Mich., will host a grand opening celebration on May 30. Northern Express reported that when Brilliant Books closed last October after a decade-long run, several of its former booksellers "decided to make lemonade out of lemons."
"It was so hard every day at the old store to talk to people and hear the stories about the impact that Brilliant had on their lives. It really drove home that this is what we wanted to be doing," said Caitlin Marsh, co-owner with Samantha Duby, Rachel Sang, and Carissa Yonan.
"It's a wonderful place to have a business," Marsh added, referring to the space. "Our fellow shops are so fantastically niche, and yet we all work so well together. There's a sort of general camaraderie that's a very pleasant place to work, even outside of the store. So it's just been one small miracle after another."
Since its soft opening in February, Artemis has been building its inventory, creating a dedicated ordering site, and filling out its space, including custom cabinetry. Marsh noted that one of the priorities for the business "is that we wanted it to be sustainable, and we mean that in several aspects."